Railway-track scale



April 1, 1930. M. H. STARR RAILWAY TRACK SCALE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 FiledDec. 10, 1927 INVENTOR jlolfaflflstar ATTORNEY Apfil1,1930. M.H.sTARR vRAILWAY TRACK SCALE Filed Dec. 10. 1927 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR M22121? Sta r1.

BY SW ATTORNEY Patented Apr. 1, 1930 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

MORTON HULL STARR, OF RUTLAND, VERMONT, ASSIGNOR TO THE HOWE SCALECOMPANY, OF RUTLAND, VERMONT, .A. CORPORATION OF VERMONT RAILWAY-TRACKSGALE Application filed December 10, 1927. Serial No. 239,167.

This invention relates to new and useful improvements in railway trackscales.

Heretofore, in railway track scale constructions, the load from theplatform or bridge,

.6 has been transmitted to the knife edge pivot of the main leverthrough the medium of a suspension mechanism which included a singledepending support or frame of inverted U-shape rigidly connected to thebeam of the platform, and a link suspension intermediate the rigidsupport and the knife edge pivot of the main lever. I have found fromactual experience that the above construction is inadequate to meet thevarious conditions existing in actual practice, in that it providesdifiiculties in disassembling the suspension, it requires an increaseddepth of pit to provide space for the central portion of the bridgebeam; the rigidity of the bridge support opposes the fiexure of thebridge, and it is impossible for vertical adjustment to take up theinequalities of the bridge.

My invention therefore has among its several objects to provide asuspension for railway track scales which will permit the suspension tobe readily disassembled; will avoid the necessity of increasing thedepth of the pit to provide space for the central portion of the bridgebeam; will eliminate the rigidity of the bridge support opposing theflexure of the bridge, and will permit of vertical adjustment to take upthe inequalities of the bridge. I

With these and other objects in view which will more fully appear, thenature of the invention will be more clearly understood by following thedescription, the appended claims, and the several views illustrated inthe accompanying drawings.

In the accompanying drawings which illustrate one form ofmy invention:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of my improved suspension, the bridge beamand the secondary lever being shown in section,

Figure 2 is a sectional view taken in a plane at right angles to Figure1,

Figure 3 is a sectional view taken on the line X-X of Figure 2,

Figure 4 is a detail view, partly in section,

of one of the wedge assemblies for independently adjusting the bridgesupports, and

Figure 5 is a perspective View of one of the wedges.

Like reference numerals designate corresponding parts throughout theseveral figures of the drawings.

Referring to the accompanying drawings in detail, 4 indicates the usualI-beam of the weigh bridge or platform. The bridge is suspended at oneend from two main levers 5 (one only being shown) which are connected toa secondary lever 6. Each main lever 5 is fulcrumed at one end on asupporting bracket 7 through the medium of a knife edge pivot bearing 8fixed to the lever and a bearing block 9 fixed to the bracket. The otherend of the main lever 5 is provided with a knife edge pivot bearing 10which rests ona bearing block 11 fixed to the lower end of a.

vertically disposed link 12 which is suspended from a bearing block 13fixed to the sec ondary lever 6. An elongated knife edge pivot bearing14, from which the bridge is suspended, is fixed to the main lever 5 ata point intermediate the pivots 8 and 10. All three of the knife edgesof the pivots 8, 10 and 14 are in parallelism, and disposed in the samehorizontal plane, as indicated by the dotted line m-w.

Supported by the intermediate knife edge pivot 14 is an upper bearingblock 15, and supported centrally on said block by a transverse pivot 16is a supplemental upper link blockl7. The upper link block 17 isprovided on its upper surface adjacent its ends with seats 18-18 fromwhich depending links 19-19 are suspended. Located within the links19-19 and supported by the lower ends thereof,.is a lower link block 20.The ends of the lower link block 20 project beyond the links 1919 andare respectively disposed within slotted bearings 2121 formed in thelower ends of independent posts 22-22 which form the bridge support, theupper ends of the posts being fixedly secured to the base flanges of thebeam 4 by bolts 23. The upper end of each post 22 is widened to form anattaching head 24 having openings 24 through which the bolts 23 pass,the openings 24 haveess ' eters of the bolt shanks.

ing diameters slightly larger than the diam- The head 24 is centrallyformed in its upper face with a transverse groove 25 to provide spacedbearing surfaces for the post on opposite sides of the central verticalplane of the post.

A wedge block 26 is mounted in suitable bearings in each post 22 andextends transversely of the lower link block 20 and in direct contactwith the adjacent end thereof. One end of the wedge block is providedwith a threaded shank 27 which extends through an opening formed in anarm 28 extending laterally from the adjacent post. Nuts 29-29 areassociated with the threaded'shank for cooperation with the arm 28 tolock the wedge block in any position of adjustment.

I The disassembling and assembling of a railroad track scale whichembodied the solid inverted Ushaped supports, required the services offour men operating for a period of approximately two and one-half hours,whereas with my invention, two'men can perform the same operations inapproximately thirty minutes.

From the foregoing, it will be seen that I have constructed a suspensionwhich may be readily disassembled without creating interference with theusual end frame of the bridge and consequently a pit of lesser depththan usual can be employed; that the supporting posts are adjustablyalthoughrrigidly connected to the bridge beam, thus permitting the poststo be readily attached to the beam notwithstanding the bolt openings inthe beam may be located slightly out of normal positions, and that theseparate bridge supporting posts are independently adjustable relativeto the main lever for permitting the inequalities in the bridge to bereadily taken up. I

It is of course to be understood that the details of structure andarrangements of parts may be variously changed and modified Withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of my invention.

I claim:

1. In a railway track scale, the combination of a bridge including abeam, and a suspenpendent bridge supporting posts depending from thebeam and suspended from the main lever, means for adjustably and rigidlysecuring the posts to the beam, and separate means for independentlyadjusting the posts vertically relative to the lever.

2. In a railway track scale, the combination of a bridge including abeam, and a suspen sion therefor including a main lever, independentbridge supporting posts depending from the beam and suspended from themain lever, the upper end of each post being provided with a head havingspaced contact surfaces for engagement with the beam, means foradjustably and rigidly securing the posts signature.

MORTON HULL STARR.

'sion therefor including a main lever, inde-

